Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Chapel - Heywood Street. (1905)

Last month in Manchester was a wonderful, unforgettable month and those months are memorable that are spent close to heaven. Today I shall leave the glorious meetings in their glory without touching on any of them, apart from those involving the never-to-be-forgotten visit of the Rev. Joseph Jenkins, with Miss Maud Davies and Miss Florrie Evans, New Quay. It was a happy decision on the part of the Church in Heywood St. to get the Rev. Joseph Jenkins down to celebrate their annual festival. The first meeting was held at Heywood St. on the 20th, but Mr Jenkins was unable to join us until the Saturday evening. This was a strange meeting, marked at its outset by a painful backwardness, whether from a lack of enthusiasm on the part of the crowd, or from a fear that God was close at hand, I do not know, but it was a meeting of the 'Veterans' throughout, with only two young people daring to break out during the meeting. After the meeting had been opened, Miss Davies rose and sang the thrilling "Hir oedd y ddunos" [Long was the dark night]. The crowd sang to the spirit of song [sic], and this was by far the most obvious spirit in it. The old people were on their knees, and the young playing their harps, although it should have been the other way about. After the glorious singing, we had three 'grand' prayers from old saints, and a solemn one asking God to remove the barriers. After the last of these, Miss Evans rose and we had a particularly lovely prayer, teeming with beautiful ideas, a gem of a prayer. Another old pilgrim, who is unrestrained in prayer, got up and prayed passionately for God to remove the barriers, and to raise us to the bright side of the cloud. Despite these earnest and powerful prayers, it was a struggle to gain the blessing. Then we heard the voice of Miss Davies, in the elders' seat, reciting "Oh!rend the veil that hides the mount," &c [hymn]. I thought, when I heard these lines, that she was giving them out to be sung, and I took up my hymn book, but when the line "Let the bright sun of righteousness shine" fell on my ear, it became so divine that I could not believe she was reading, and I closed my hymn book, and saw, after some difficulty, that she was passionately praying the lines; and Oh! my God! thanks be for this prayer, the most glorious I have heard in my life. When she had prayed the first three lines, she began to praise Jesus, too divinely fair for man to describe and her face shone radiantly. Soon, we heard her praying this sentence, Oh! Dear Jesus! Oh! Dear Jesus! She prayed it about half a dozen times, and each time the sentence fell from her lips with a more divine splendour than before, but suddenly it became Oh! Great Jesus! and then we heard her praying solemnly that immortal old hymn – "Is it great Jesus, friend of mankind, Whom I see over there, with his wounded flesh?" &c. But she was unable to complete it, and turned then to express in the most lovely way her wonder at Jesus' love, and before long we saw that the crowd were bent over, and as it were hanging on her lips. Having besought God to make us little children so the Spirit might carry out its work on us, she turned for the second time to pray with irresistible force the blessed old sentence "Oh! Dear Jesus!" and having prayed it about half a dozen times, it again became, at the end, "Oh! Great Jesus" and then came the old hymn, "Is it great Jesus, friend of mankind," etc. again, but this time she did not pray it, but sang it with rapturous effec;, she sang the place into a flood of tears. We heard many people sobbing out loud, and others sighing heartbrokenly. To me the sentence "And the blood in clots upon his head" was like an echo of the beat of the nails, I never heard anything that brought the crucifixion so alive in my mind – but Oh! what a blessed sight! the 'Rocks of Salem' began to weep rivers of tears; I have never heard a prayer of such sweeping power. Heywood Street sang to Calvary, and Calvary to Heywood Street, this glorious and memorable prayer soon had its effect on the crowd — after this Miss Evans gave a piece of glorious testimony, and she was followed by a number of supplicants, one prayer being from a very broken young woman, this was a powerful prayer, tears from the soul eloquently addressing the throne of grace. I give thanks for prayers like this, which are too divine for man to be able to comprehend. The meeting was closed by an elder who offered a splendid prayer for God to bend us, and break our backs, and forgive us for crawling so long at his work. This turned, in the words of Dr. James, into a heavenly meeting, and we would not have tired of it till morning.

On Friday evening they were at Pendleton, and there was more praying at this meeting than at Heywood Street, but we felt all the same that there was a world of difference between our testimonies and [?those of] these two modest, godly young women. Amongst the powerful prayers, there was again a remarkable prayer from Miss Evans, and Miss Davies sang with conviction "Cofia ddweyd" [Remember to tell] and "Mae'n disgwyl am danat" [He is waiting for you"; thismeeting again delighted us. On the Saturday evening, the three were in Moss Side, and the place was packed, and the sight of the old 'Cathedral' was enough to make the mute walls break out and sing "Head of Calvary, This will never leave my memory." There were probably over a thousand people at this meeting, and one does not often see such a large crowd, with so many young faces in it, their souls consumed with great expectation. The meeting was opened powerfully by Miss Evans, and the Rev. Joseph Jenkins then preached with great influence and Miss Davies sang gloriously several times —A Welsh translation of "O! count your blessings," and "Er pan gychwynais adref" [Since I started out for home] were the two songs that most moved the crowd; it was raised to very enthusiastic feeling, but no-one more so that than the Venerable Dr James, who leapt for joy when he saw at the end that there were three in the net. On the Sunday morning the two young missionary ladies came to Moss Side again, and there was a good crowd of people to hear them, and that, to hear them, was their reason for coming, not to take part in the activities, so that one can only say of the meeting that its glory was Miss Evans' testimony and prayer and Miss Davies' heavenly singing, especially the immortal hymn of [Ann Griffiths of] Dolwar fach which she sang towards the end, "Electing a surety before there was a debt, Ordaining a physician before there was a wound, Loving an enemy without any merit - Shall receive eternal praise." In the afternoon we went to Heywood St. again to hear them. This was a strange meeting too, there was plenty of singing, but we felt all the time that our place was on our knees. There was powerful singing there, apart from delightful testimonies and the exceptional singing of Miss Davies, and between everything we felt we had been lifted up to heaven, but it was clear to everyone, from Mr Jenkins solemn prayer at the conclusion of the meeting, that he believed that at least three quarters of the crowd were not on their way there. This was a prayer which sobered the most indifferent of those present.

We went there again in the evening, and I found this a meeting "not to be forgotten while the fair heavens remain" [hymn]. The chapel was packed long before the meeting started, as was the schoolhouse nearby, and a great many people went home disappointed. Before the meeting commenced the crowd entertained themselves by singing hymns, and these were sung with great power and enjoyment; a stranger listening to them would have thought that the crowd was drunk on the joy of the grace that was there, and one could easily pardon that error, as there was a sea of song, but an untroubled sea, without the least disturbance. The three missionaries arrived before long. Mr Jenkins looked pale and weary, and it was clear that the carefree spirit of the crowd had wounded him, and that his spirit was at war with the spirit of the crowd. His solemn appearance sobered the depths of my soul, and I was horrified to think of what awaited us, for I saw in him someone who could use the fist of God! His text was the first sentence of Mathew 26, verse 63, "But Jesus held his peace." And oh! what a solemn sermon! here was a shower of unbearable brimstone! in a moment we were in hell. If the old Giants of the Pulpit used to preach their hearers to the Judgement, heaven knows we gained here some idea of the life of lost souls beyond the Judgement, but thanks be that it was a hell this side of Calvary for all that. There is no room for me to quote more than a little here and there of the unforgettable remarks. He had two main points, and one can see from that that he had forgotten that he was a Methodist [Methodist sermons almost invariably had three main points], the first was the Nobility of heaven in the face of hell's lightning. Secondly, that there was an aspect of godliness that was an occasion for the insolence of the ungodly – "But Jesus held his peace." It was to us, the young people, that he preached, and it was us on that he gazed, with the lightning of holy zeal flashing from his eyes. Indeed, sometimes the look on his face was enough to make one faint with fear. Anguish wrung our souls as we heard him crying out at one point, "where are you, lads? Have you bowed down to Jesus? If you have not, down with you! down with you! down with you he shouted like thunder, until the whole place was shaking under it. Why will you bow down to him! This is the kernel of all creation. Oh! down with you! he cried excitedly, until the chapel was almost in chaos. Indeed the faces of the crowd were shining with tears, very like a snow-covered valley with the silvery moon shining on it. Later on we again heard him shouting: Where are you? Do you belong to the Court? I do not, he said, and a heavenly smile (the first I saw) played over his face; I, he said, belong to the crowd that will on some day to come be casting their souls piecemeal in kisses at his feet. Why are they striking him? Jesus is silent, he can afford to be deliberate and dignified in the midst of devils. Why does he not strike? he is divine. Yes, he said, with a terrible look, watch what you are doing, you in the gallery there, you are scholars enough to know that Jesus is silent, watch that you do not take advantage of his love to provoke his Omnipotence. Remember that where you strike God, there is your Sinai, there the avalanches will fall on your conscience, and among further disturbing and overwhelming thoughts like this we heard him shouting like an earthquake, escape from the court as fast as you can and pray at his feet. By this time the place was in complete chaos, and a large number of people looked pitiful, weeping their hearts out, others here and there looking as helpless as if they were in their shrouds, but the sight became more terrible as he went on, and it became indescribable in its anguish and fear when he began the horrifying cry again, down with you! down with you, boys, cries that drove the crowd almost mad, and the last thing I heard from his lips was, Yes, tonight, down with you! For fear the demons will pass you on the day of Judgement, as the shabbiest creatures in God's creation, and he sat down. There was an overwhelming silence for a minute afterwards, and Oh! it was like an eternity to me, but God took care, as he does, to send an angel to comfort us, and whoever saw a Gethsemane who did not meet with an angel of God therein? I am told that Miss Davies rose and sang wonderfully sweetly; what she sang, the heavens know best, I do not. She sang another song, they tell me, just as sweet as the first, but to no purpose; three quarters of the crowd were struggling on the brink of the Abyss, too far away at the time for the music of Calvary to reach them; she sang for the third time, a song just as melodious, to a crowd that was almost in a mortal swoon, and by the end there were a few, they say, near the door, beginning to come to themselves, but the majority of the congregation were completely helpless, but she sang for the fourth time, and somewhere towards the middle the sweet notes of her heavenly song reached my ear, there was a chorus to this, and before long a host of people could be heard joining in with her; heaven knows the singing was balm to my soul, but I could not have joined in if I had had eternity to do so, but a good number were singing now, so that I could see that heavenly voice had sung many a stormy breast to heavenly peace, and kissed many a challenging tune [misprint for “wave”?] to sleep. But I believe that singing the crowd up out of its despair was one of the hardest tasks of her life. When the crowd had finished, she sang again until almost everyone was bewildered, "Ai Iesu mawr ffrynd dynolryw," [Is it great Jesus, friend of mankind] &c., and after that she sang again "Yn Eden cofiaf hyny byth," [In Eden I will remember that forever] and to the sound of the victory of Calvary joy came to our hearts, and we then began to sing, and the final four lines were sung with passion.

In the midst of the flood of song, Miss Evans stood up, and with her little hand up, she said "Stop that singing," and the final note died away in an instant. This was a hand that became almost omnipotent. Why? God was at her back, it was God's rod that she held in her hand, and she struck the sea like Moses of yore, and halted it almost as miraculously. "Singing is no burden to you, she said, do something harder for Jesus Christ." Then she applied the fiery sermon to our consciences in her own way, re-opening the old wounds, but under the balm of her delicious prayer we were revived a second time. To the sound of her "Amen" Miss Davies rose, and was silent for a short while, but when she spoke she drew out six very stirring prayers. When the sixth had ended, Mr Jenkins brought the meeting to an end, and proved that in doing so he was in the hand of the Spirit. It was the high tide he desired, for the young people's meeting, so that they could be immersed in it. But a long part of it was a terribly unbearable, a part that filled our comfortable benches with thorns, and caused our consciences to be pierced by merciless darts. Before long he asked those who had been saved to stand up, but there were only half a dozen within the ‘line’, then he cast consuming brimstone on the self-styled 'modesty' of those who were seated, who were saved. He asked those who would like to be saved to stand up, and we were all on our feet as one man, looking excited, "so," he said, with disappointment darkening his pale face, we knew the cause of this was the friends of the alleged 'Modesty'; thanks be for the smiles of the two young women then, which were to me like silver linings to the dark cloud of judgement on Mr Jenkins' face. But suddenly the meeting became a society [testimony] meeting, and not a prayer meeting. "Come along, then," he said "if you want to be saved, give your testimony," and Oh! it became a blessedly beautiful storm, his face became, in this storm, pleasant enough to make an angel want to kiss it. Feelings were pouring out, till the atmosphere was full of angels confined for years in locked hearts. Here were some, with hot tears, eloquently giving their testimony, while there was another with his soul pouring forth until the place shook, others, over there, struggling as if between heaven and hell, but Oh! the mercy of 'the most secure grasp above' [hymn], it became one of the most glorious places in which I have ever been, it became so divinely beautiful that he was unable to leave the pulpit, the Spirit was here moving on the face of the waters, making room for a new earth to fill the void in many a heart. Who will ever forget the meeting? It was such a night that Mr Jenkins, [? who] has seen wondrous things, declared he had had a blissful evening. Monday evening was marked by a lovely calm after the storm, and everyone declared that this was the most glorious week-end they had ever experienced, and today I hear an echo of that old [=dear?] sentence, 'Down with you, boys!' in the depths of my soul.